Though well-intended and built on a dramatic and compelling concept, "Marshall" ultimately never becomes the film it wants to be. It wants to be a clear-cut story about institutional racism, yet it really plays up the moral murkiness of its plot and characters. It wants to showcase the evolution of Thurgood Marshall, but he has the least of an arc of anyone in the film. It's just a very underwhelming biopic.

Boseman needs a script that allows him to showcase the true powerhouse actor he is. Marshall is well-intended and, for the most part, avoids the genre's pitfalls, but it doesn't carry the emotional impact that Thurgood did. Josh Gad was a welcoming revelation.

3/10. Though MARSHALL avoids some of the pitfalls of the biopic, it leans too heavily on its buddy comedy thread, undermining its dramatic issues. What's more, one of the main plot lines--proving a woman falsely cried rape--is cringeworthy in a modern context.